Birds of Passage

Rating:
Summary: Traces of a vanished world
Review: A fairly light read, but fascinating. Takes the reader through several decades of the Franco-phone Syrian community living the good life on the fringes of the British colonial powers in Egypt, until the rude awakenings of nationalization...etc. in the late fifties/early sixties. Family saga written from the point of view of a young narrator; all the characters are full of life, and human nature being what it is, they are recognizable no matter what your cultural background may be. Leaves you with the impression that despite all the setbacks, life is wonderful and most definitely worth living.

Rating:
Summary: An Egyptian odyssey
Review: Birds of Passage is as much a chronicle of the sprawling, raucous, and delightfully diverse Batrakani clan as it is a tapestry of modern Egypt- her transition from one of the shimmering cities of the declining Ottoman Empire to one of the center of the post-colonial Arab world. Along the way, Egypt throws off its allegiance to Istanbul, becomes a British protectorate under a succession of local monarchs, and emerges in the 1950s as an independent Republic, marking the first time in thousands of years that native Egyptians took the reins of power. Through this odyssey, the Batrakanis live, grow, and thrive and Sole captures them at their most triumphant and ruined, from the days of glorious wealth during the British occupation to their last, embittered days during the onset of Nasser's regime. Greek Catholics in a predominantly Muslim country, Syrian by heritage, western by faith, and French by language and obsession, in retrospect it seems inevitable that their colorful world would collapse after the end of colonialism. Sole's writing is simple and matter-of-fact, he is spare with language but generous with details, chronicling the lives of a dozen characters. This is both the novel's charm and its major flaw- for the first half it doesn't have a focus as one generation seems to intersperse its events with another. Had Sole streamlined the narrative earlier- to reflect more upon the lives of Georges and Yolande and their children- all of whom take paths which are symbolic of the attitudes their small but influential minority held of Egypt- the novel would have been more gripping. The other flaw is that unless one is engaged in the history of 20th century Egypt, with its successful of khedives, sultans, kings, and dictators, much of the political details are irrelevant. The novel gives a small but interesting glimpse at King Farouq, the last Egyptian monarch- handsome, charismatic, and energetic in youth, fat, lascivious and impotent in later life. At the end of Birds of Passage, one is left with a much deeper appreciation of the diversity of Egypt and a gripping sadness at the passing of a festive, colorful, and vanquished world.